Recommend stone and air pump

[aviator79]

For 3 years I have been able to run the waterfall all year and not have issues but this year I keep losing water. I think its coming off the sides of the waterfall rock and I need to redo the foam and rock barrier at the edge. I think the best thing to do is shut the pump down, drain the filter and use a bubbler for the rest of the winter. Recommendations? Will a 4" circle stone work or should I get an 8" and what size air pump. Im broke so dont want to spend too much. I was looking on amazon as have prime so free ship and will be here in time if I order soon. Or should i make one out of 1/2 sprinkler hose? Not sure what type pump would need to run, figure some sort of HVLP pump.
Pond is ~3000g once I fill it back up this weekend.

 

[dieselplower]

I would not use an air pump. I would use a small fountain pump, say 300 gph, to shoot the water up towards the surface to make a volcano type of effect. I have read a lot of posts already this Winter of peoples ponds freezing over with an airstone but it has been in the negatives by my for a bit and my hole is still open.

 

[aviator79]

Sounds like a good plan. I will pick this up and put it on the ledge.
http://www.harborfreight.com/264-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-68395.html
I imagine some people have had issues with humidity causing freezing of water insize tubing slowing air down and causing problems...IDK but thanks for the good cheap idea.

 

[aviator79]

Well ran a 100' line of pex tubing from basement thru my house to the pond and am filling it as it is way too low for these temps. With the ice so low not sure what will happen but the plan is to now drain filter (stock tank) so it doesnt explode once it freezes and probably pull hose from filter and run to dump directly into pond to keep a hole in ice until the weekend when I can fix. Hope my fish make it. Already lost all my fish and had to restock this year. Been a bad year for my pond.

 

[aviator79]

What it should look like:
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/top...-basically-solid-rock-6-under-ground/?p=71338

 

[dieselplower]

Wow your pond looks great

 

[Dave 54]

Why you guys dont cover the pond with Polycarbonate and put in some major insulation during the builds I dont know , weve had no trouble with ice ever since we moved outdoors and the lowest weve had is -15c
Admittedly weve a filterhousing which is different than most of you but it does the Job it was designed to do and thats to stop our water from freezing I've seen water on top of the poycarbonate frozen for weeks but in the pond underneath our koi can be seen ice free swimming lazyly away as though it was the height of summer.
Admittedly its expensive to buy but you can pick it up for next to nothing at recycling centres and you have the peice of mind that your pond isnt frozen , then all you do in the summer is prop it up out of sight until its next needed .
We even didnt get frozen water when the flter housing was only part built and just wrapped in two beach windbreaks and a bubble wrapped frame over the pond so it goes to prove that protection from the elements does work and it works well.
Looking at your pond you could quite easily fit one sheet over it then think up something for the waterfall .......



Dave

 

[BlueOrca]

I was going to fabricate a green house structure over my pond using vapour barrier and 1 " pvc pipes, but I ran out of time and winter came with a bang. My aerator stopped working over the last few days (-24 C last night without windchill) 7 " of snow on top of 5-6 " of ice. I'm not sure if my planned structure would have held up to the snow and extreme cold temp's we've been having. Back to the drawing board for me.

 

[dieselplower]

Why you guys dont cover the pond with Polycarbonate and put in some major insulation during the builds I dont know , weve had no trouble with ice ever since we moved outdoors and the lowest weve had is -15c
Admittedly weve a filterhousing which is different than most of you but it does the Job it was designed to do and thats to stop our water from freezing I've seen water on top of the poycarbonate frozen for weeks but in the pond underneath our koi can be seen ice free swimming lazyly away as though it was the height of summer.
Admittedly its expensive to buy but you can pick it up for next to nothing at recycling centres and you have the peice of mind that your pond isnt frozen , then all you do in the summer is prop it up out of sight until its next needed .
We even didnt get frozen water when the flter housing was only part built and just wrapped in two beach windbreaks and a bubble wrapped frame over the pond so it goes to prove that protection from the elements does work and it works well.
Looking at your pond you could quite easily fit one sheet over it then think up something for the waterfall .......



Dave

I live in a subdivision and have 3 neighbors who can see my pond easily from their house. I do not want a bunch of debris over my pond making an eye sore....
If I lived in a more rural area, I would probably make a cover.

 

[aviator79]

The $15 HF fountain pump will work perfect for me. Going to pick one up today. I think one of the main differences for me this year is I have my pump on the ledge and the water is much colder and freezes much easier as I used to keep it on the bottom where the water was warmer. Plus it is now 3 years old and I have clearly have leaks from the waterfall that should have been fixed in the summer...but what happened is the water was so cold it just mouned up on the waterfall rock and send the water right off the side of the rock rather than into the pond and this is why I say the pump being on the ledge made the big difference and the water was at near freezing temps rather than water that is 4 feet under ground is much warmer and doesnt freeze "instantniously" like what happened this year.

 

[sissy]

I have had HF pumps for years and my first one still works 11 years later .I now have there 2150 gph pump and watts used 175 and it pumps 20 ft of head .But sad to say a couple of weeks ago something chewed through the power cord .But will be getting another one .79 dollars on sale and 25 % off coupon and then I called HF to see if they had it in stock and told manager what happened to mine and even though it is 4 years old and extended warranty ran out they told me they would give me 40 % off the new one if I bring the old one in and I did and happy to say working great but I put the cord inside a protective hose cover .No more chewers please